WELCOME TO
THE IGNITING THE FLAME OF UNITY
WEBSITE
THIS WEBSITE IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE PIONEERING ENGINEMEN &
MOTORMEN, ESPECIALLY TO THE A.S.L.E.& F. MEMBERS WHO
WORKED IN THE VARIOUS FOOTPLATE GRADES OF
THE BRIGHTON RAILWAY
To move from page to another, just click on the year as you hover
over the year (right hand side) sub pages will appear
for a particular event.
E.g. 1911 will show various sub pages.
“WE WUNT BE DRUV”
The motto asserts
That people from Sussex have minds of their own,
and cannot be forced against their will, or told what to do.
For the history of the railways have been well charted, but what do
we know about the pioneering Enginemen who worked on
locomotives on the early lines? For those first primitive railway
services were fueled by the bloody, sweat, and the unremitting hard
labour of the men who worked them; the story of the railways is their story too.
With the rapid spread of the railway network brought prosperity for
the railway companies, but only hardship and exploitation for their
employees. An Engineman's time was considered the property of his
employer and he could be summoned for duty at any hour of the day
and night.
Over many years much has been written about the various forms of
traction that have operated on the Brighton Railway. But very little
has been documented about the footplatemen and women who
actually worked on them.
This website tries to remedy this, has it seeks to explain the history
of the Enginemen & Motormen and the creation of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers within the Brighton Railway along
with the various A.S.L.E.& F. branches and Motive Power depots of the Brighton Railway Company and section of the old Southern
Railway/Region.
This website features extracts from various publications, including historical A.S.L.E.& F. documents, and where possible credit has been given to the source of this information.
If anybody has any objections to the material that appears on this website. I will only too pleased to remove any such material from
this site.
If there is any information that is incorrect or you have had
experienced any problem whilst visiting the website, please let me
know so I can rectify them.
Having visited this website I hope you will not only enjoy seeing it
develop but perhaps also let us share any relevant pictures you have.
If you have any photos relating to this subject and you would like to
share on this website.
Please email them to me, along with any relevant info about the
photo (name(s) location and the year).
I would also like to add to this website any stories from your life on
the footplate.
This website combines all of my previous three websites
www.thebrightonbranchofaslef.yolasite.com
www.thesussexmotivepowerdepos.yolasite.com
www.thebrightonmotivepowerdepots.yolasite.com
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WEBSITE IS TO RECORD HISTORICAL INFORMATION, AND NOT FOR MAKING ANY KIND OF FINANCIAL GAIN.
originally started on
17th March 2010